1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in general, relates to headgear and, more particularly, to a liner or shield that provides protection from impact to a cap.
A cap is a common type of headgear that is casually worn to enhance appearance or to provide shade. It is also commonly worn during the playing or watching of certain sports, including baseball, tennis and during other activities.
A cap is a lightweight type of headgear that includes a bill which projects forward and provides relief from the glare of the sun. The cap may also be worn backward, with the bill projecting over the nape of neck of the wearer for reasons of style or for utility, such as to prevent sunburn to the back of the neck or to ensure that other headgear, such as a catcher's mask, can be simultaneously worn.
However, a cap provides virtually no impact protection from flying objects. This need is most acute for a baseball pitcher who is at risk of impact from a ball that is struck by a batter. The most danger to the pitcher is from impact of a line-drive, which is a ball that is struck in the center of the bat and flies directly toward the pitcher along a flight path that simulates a nearly straight line. This is because a baseball struck in this manner will be traveling at especially high velocity which decreases the apparent parabolic arc over a short distance of travel.
The high speed of the ball also decreases the amount of time that the pitcher has available to react in response to the rapidly approaching ball in order to get out of the ball's way. Also, the higher velocity of the ball means that it will also have a significant amount of kinetic energy to dissipate upon impact.
While there is risk of injury to the pitcher from being struck anywhere on the body by a baseball (or softball) that has been smartly struck, the risk is greatest if the pitcher is impacted on the head. Because of the physical position the pitcher acquires after release of the ball, if the pitcher is struck in the head impact is most likely to occur on the forehead or along upper portion of the forehead and front top of the skull or along the sides of the head, near temple and forehead regions of the head.
There is risk that such an impact can result in a concussion or a skull fracture occurring and, therefore, there is also the risk of the pitcher entering into a coma or even the possibility of death occurring as a result of such an impact.
The pitcher, who is at greatest risk, is also unable to wear more protective types of headgear as the safer headgear would interfere with the windup motion and with the release of the baseball, thereby adversely affecting placement (accuracy) and velocity. This is because more protective headgear is also bulkier and heavier than a cap and is therefore more likely to interfere with peripheral vision, as is used by a pitcher during delivery of the ball.
Therefore, a long-felt need to protect the head of a pitcher from trauma resulting from impact of a struck baseball has remained unsolved as pitchers of all ability levels continue to wear a basic baseball cap whenever they are engaged in pitching.
Additionally, there is a vanity as well as a strategic component involved in that the pitcher does not desire to appear, in anyway, afraid of the batter. Quite the contrary, the pitcher wants to appear in command of the situation and to intimidate the batter, rather than give the appearance to the batter that he, or she, is intimidating the pitcher. Similarly, the pitcher does not want spectators to observe that he or she is wearing protective headgear during pitching.
Similarly, there is a need to provide frontal area impact protection to the head of person wearing a cap during times of casual wear as well as when engaged in the playing of various sports and other activities. This is needed to provide additional safety from objects that may impact the head of the wearer, including protection to the head of the wearer if it is the wearer that falls and impacts some stationary or other type of object.
Additionally, people with special medical needs such as those recovering from a head injury or surgery to the head (or brain) are in need of greater impact protection for their head and would prefer to achieve such protection in an optimally comfortable and inconspicuous manner.
With regard to providing impact protection to the head for sporting activities it is noted that the use of a helmet is the standard teaching as to a solution for this need. Therefore, the teaching of the prior art is toward protective devices (i.e., helmets) that are modified for each sport but which are generally heavy, cumbersome, bulky, obstruct the field-of-view, and have an appearance that clearly indicates their utilitarian purpose.
Accordingly, there exists today a need for a protective shield for a cap that helps to ameliorate the above-mentioned problems and difficulties as well as ameliorate those additional problems and difficulties as may be recited in the “OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION” or discussed elsewhere in the specification or which may otherwise exist or occur and that are not specifically mentioned herein.
As various embodiments of the instant invention help provide a more elegant solution to the various problems and difficulties as mentioned herein, or which may otherwise exist or occur and are not specifically mentioned herein, and by a showing that a similar benefit is not available by mere reliance upon the teachings of the relevant prior art, the instant invention attests to its novelty. Therefore, by helping to provide a more elegant solution to various needs, some of which may be long-standing in nature, the instant invention further attests that the elements thereof, in the combination as claimed, are not obvious when viewed in light of the teachings of the known prior art.
Clearly, such an apparatus would be useful and desirable.
2. Description of Prior Art
Caps, helmets, and protective headgear are, in general, known. Some of these known devices may or may not have relevance to the invention. An acknowledgement of their existence is not an admission of their having any particular relevance to the invention but rather is intended to present a broad and diversified understanding regarding the current state of the art appertaining to either the field of the invention or possibly to other related or distal fields of invention.
While the structural arrangements of the previously known types of devices may, at first appearance, have similarities with the present invention, they differ in material respects. These differences, which will be described in more detail hereinafter, are essential for the effective use of the invention and which admit of the advantages that are not available with the prior devices.